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DecentChanceOfLousy t1_izidf32 wrote

Reply to comment by ZalmoxisRemembers in Netherlands: Integrated Rooftop Solar Panels, Wind Turbines For High Rise Buildings by darth_nadoma

Wind turbines, maybe. Solar panels, no.

Transmission losses are low. The cost of installing and maintaining a panel 500ft in the air on top of/on the side of a skyscraper is not low.

Better to have two panels in a random field somewhere than pay twice as much to put one, expensive and inaccessible, on a high-rise. Most places have no shortage of unused space, so long as you're actually outside the city.

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Mollymusique t1_iziq70d wrote

The "random fields" in the Netherlands are pretty precious. We don't have a lot of space left over. We gotta find ways to use the space that is already used for buildings

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oiseauvert989 t1_izjcrlb wrote

One place I think should have them is the rooftops for swimming pools. Often they are flat roofed and easily accessible.

Also a very good place for solar heating panels and air source heat pumps. If you are going to store future excess energy as hot water, that is a very good place to do it.

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Mollymusique t1_izl9gp7 wrote

That's true, the problem is that the roof structures were not build with this in mind so often they are not strong enough to support such a weight. I think with new buildings they are setting requirements though

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oiseauvert989 t1_izlc9in wrote

I don't know about that.

The weight of solar panels on my local swimming pool roof would be much lower than the weight of a heavy snowfall building up on the flat roof (originally I was studying structural engineering).

With rooftop installations there is also the possibility to place them in the locations where there is a higher degree of tolerance. Snow unfortunately builds up across the entire surface.

If course it is definitely something to be double checked on a case by case basis but I don't think solar panel weight would be a problem in every case.

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